Taming the demons

The Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo’s act of physically taming pre-Buddhist deities through religious buildings developed into a long tradition. Bhutan also has a number of Buddhist buildings which were erected for specifically that purpose.

So, for instance, in the first half of the 18th century, the Lama* Shida had the Chendebji Chörten* erected in order to render harmless a demon who had been threatening the population of the surrounding valleys.